Re: Weird Fiction and the Cult of Obscurity
I love the prose of authors like Tolkien, Lovecraft, Melville, Hardy etc. who develop setting and atmosphere through detailed descriptions of natural landscapes, architecture, technology etc., but Radcliffe doesn't have the knowledge and sense of phrasing or pacing to pull it off. I haven't read enough about her to know if she explicitly plagiarized other authors, but her descriptions were infamously based off of contemporary travelogues, and it gives her writing the cut and paste character you'd expect from plagiarism.
If you haven't read any of the 18th century Gothic writers, I'd recommend starting with Lewis, Waldpole, Reeve, Brown, etc. The logic, plots, and characters are on par with Radcliffe, but I think they're all far more enjoyable.
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